Matt Logelin - the guy we truly wish we didn’t have to know but check in on daily. Ever since he sent a brief e-mail with a link to his blog in Cribsheet’s in-box we’ve all been blindsided by his grief in losing his beautiful wife Liz the day after they had their baby Madeline.

We’ve also been touched by his raw prose and brilliant photography, impressed with his inate parenting skills, delighted with the ever-growing baby Madeline, and amused by a $400 robot. We’ve been crying on our keyboards, cursing right along with him, and have found ourselves now referring to our state as “the mn”.

Many, many of you have been offering him kind words and advice.  After the article ran about them in the Star Tribune, a few Cribsheeters rallied around to do something to help. It started out with an idea in the comments section to send the extra formula checks, that new parents often get a surplus of, to him.  Rachel and Alicia took the initiative to make this happen.  Just though we’d spotlight what they have done.  Here is the Help Matt & Madeline blog.

I asked Rachel how it’s going.  She said. “I think for me the most important thing to highlight is my desire to make this long term for Matt and Madeline.  I want to be a “blog” or e-mail away from Matt whenever a need arises.  So, for me that means continuing to update it (as I can) and think down the road as to what Matt and Madeline might need.  At this point Matt is so overwhelmed by stuff and packages that we are kind of on hold until life calms down a bit for him. We will continue to collect formula checks and send them his way. ”

May and I met Matt briefly at Liz’s memorial service. He hoped we had learned more about Liz and what an incredible person she was. (We did, and continue to learn)  And he wanted to share how great everyone had been to him and what an amazing community of people we have reading Cribsheet. (We agree)

In my case, no.

Ben received an animal alphabet game from his Grandma W. He’s been playing with it pretty much non-stop (when he’s not playing with trains, that is). One afternoon he pressed a button and the voice said. “Find. The. Animal. That. Begins. With. ‘U’ “

He looked around and grabbed a mountain goat with horns. He looked at me and said. “eereeal” I thought, of course, it was toddler babble. I was thinking, well - he’ll see that it’s really “G” for goat or maybe “R” for ram. He set the animal down on the U and the game gave him the “correct!” music and said “U. Uriel. Begins. With. U.” 

A wha? I thought I was pretty well versed on my animals at this stage in life. But this really got my goat. I had never heard of a Uriel - or is it an Uriel? I looked on the box sure enough there’s a mountain goat looking creature with the word Uriel beneath it. Now I wanted to know more about this obscure cloven hoofed animal. My old Webster’s was right there on the bookshelf.  I leafed through, scanning down the page  ”Okay U, U, UR,  there it was. Uriel - one of four archangels in Hebrew tradition.”  Decidedly not a goat. I scanned up the page - Ah, it’s actually urial, an upland wild sheep of southern and central Asia.

Of course, toy companies and books  have always had a challenge with matching some letters to animals or objects. “U” is a tough one. Most often it is paired up with the fabled and fake Unicorn. Fisher Price was just keeping it real. Real obscure. 

Come to think of it there are several letters that are hard to match up. “X” is a tough one. Ben has an alphabet book with the even more obscure Xenops - bird. Huh? And on top of that the Xenops is sailing in a Xebec.  Now, “N” - you’d think would be easy. But that’s a hard one to match up too. There’s Narwhal - an Arctic whale, who by the way - could pass for the nonexistent fabled Unicorn. (also included in one of my favorite scenes from “Elf” -  “Bye Buddy - Hope you find your dad!”)  Digging further, there’s the large rat like rodent, Nutria which has been in the news lately. And of course how could I forget good old “N” standby, Newt.

How about any additional obscure animal alphabet pairings to share?  Or how has your toddler outsmarted you?

Cribsheet reader “singleinthecities” offers her perspective on Monday’s  post featuring the Atlantic Monthly piece ”Marry Him”

To all the moms who responded to Lisa Gottlieb’s provocative  (and slightly pathetic, in my opinion) piece, try to put yourself in another set of shoes. You’re 37. Maybe you’re 38 or 40. You love life. You are also very single, and it’s hard to meet men, ANY men, despite the Internet and all. You love kids and you always have. You are realistic but not desperate. But you know that despite the latest celebrity midlife “baby bump” tabloid story (when did a child get demoted to a “bump” by the way?) that the clock really is ticking, and that stories of twins at 48 involve money and stretches of medicine and ethics that probably aren’t realistic for most women.

You would like to meet a nice guy. You could care less whether he is balding or whether he has terrible taste in shoes. You don’t care if he sings off-key. You have dozens of intelligent, attractive friends with good jobs and stable lives who are all single – and all women over 30. Some of them have deeply held religious or cultural values and can’t find someone who will walk that path with them. Some of them can’t read an article like Lisa’s without sobbing, I suspect.

(more…)

Today’s topic: Pumping and driving - and I’m not talking gas. 

I was perusing a parenting message board earlier this week and a woman was gushing on about how she used this contraption to express milk hands- free during her commute. 

Oh my. 

Now, I am all for finding short cuts and efficiencies for busy moms - but really?  This is a whole new kind of distracted driver that I hadn’t been aware of.  What if the ganglion of tubing gets caught up in your steering wheel? What if one falls out while you’re making a left turn? What about the guy in the semi in the next lane? What if you get pulled over? I know that some breast pumps do come with a car charger but I always assumed that was for a road trip to be used once you reach your destination.

I appreciate the multi-taskiness of the halter for reading and typing. Let’s face it - pumping milk can be a chore and would be nice to be able to easily flip pages in a book or magazine whilst doing so. It’s actually a pretty ingenious invention. (And look! The models seem so HAPPY!)   But nowhere on the site does it say “great for driving!”

So my question is - was this just a random scenario on a message board or are women out there really expressing themselves in the other lane on 35W ? 

Judging from the crowds at the Current’s  popular “Rock the Cradle” event last month at the MIA there are a LOT of Twin Cities parents listening to 89.3.

I think every last one of you was there, cause I certainly couldn’t navigate a baby and a toddler through the masses. I kept bumping (literally) into friends and having truncated conversations - “Oops - toddler running towards fragile exhibit see ya!” Or just plain gesticulative (is that a word?)  conversations. They went something like this… “acknowledging wave hi from the stairs, shake head, point - don’t go in that room too crowded, ok got it! thumb and pinky to ears call me bye”

Well now the station is catering to the parents and kids niche by creating this HD station Wonderground Radio which you can also stream on your computer. A nice alternative for when you are Wiggled out.

Check out the playlists a great mix of old and current songs that appeal to all generations. You might discover some new groups to add to your collection.